Dignitaries grace ‘Go Forward with God’ Akwa Ibom Carol

It was getting closer to 2 O’Clock in the morning when Bishop Chris Nyong said the benediction to officially draw the curtain on the 2022 edition of the Akwa Ibom Carols and Gospel Festival, yet the Chief Host, Governor Udom Emmanuel, his wife, Martha and their valued guests like governors Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, former governors Liyel Imoke of Cross River State and Gabriel Suswam of Benue State; Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Moses Ekpo and his Bayelsa State counterpart, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the governorship candidate of the party in Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, the Oku Ibom Ibibio and the Ooni of Ife, HRM Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi were still caught in the prevailing frenzy.

For six long hours, even the interspersing speeches and award formalities that could have slowed down the tempo were received with commensurate fervour; meaning every moment of the festival, which ran under theme, ‘Go Forward,’ was exciting.

Before proceedings properly kicked-off at 7:35pm with rendition of the National Anthem by Mercy Atang, the over 45,000 audience members who converged at the venue at the appointed time of 6:00pm in their numbers were entertained in an enlivening prelude session by Larry Sax. Blowing out popular hymns and choruses from his wind instrument, the audience responded back with equal gusto.

Now in its 15th edition, the 2022 Akwa Ibom Carols and Gospel featured nine headline gospel musicians, one preacher, Pastor David Ibiyeomie of Salvation Ministries and a cultured Master of Ceremonies, Raphael Edem. Ibiyeomie took the theme of the festival, ‘Go Forward’ ,which was sourced from Exodus 14:15 and gave it a profound interpretation based on John 3: 16. He preached a sermon on the need for visionary leadership among other qualities that can enable an individual or a nation move forward. With the crowd echoing “Amen”‘ in agreement he explained that the nation does not need politicians because they only think of how to win the next election, but visionary leaders think of how to impact future generations. The Bible Reading was done by Governor Emmanuel. The governor was later joined by his wife, Martha to present a special number, ‘Kini Ukpong Mi Ukutde Mfon Fo Ete.’ Their rendition was given a great verve from participation by the audience.

The Akwa Ibom Carols and Gospel Festival has garnered a favourable reputation on the global cultural calendar, having been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for featuring the largest party of Christmas carol singers. This year, only a 5,000 detachment from the record setting Mass Choir rendered a medley of carols in Ibibio and English.

Managing a loaded night of activities must have been a herculean task for the organisers, as the they had a tough task to chose from an array of excellent and willing talents: From the Davasol Brothers to Solomon Moses, who led a rousing session of praise medley to Larry (Sax) John, a heart-warming tone was set for the night.

There was only one congregational hymn, ‘Mme Kpono Abasi,’ following which the Triumphant Philharmonic Chorale rendered an assortment of Christmas carols. The Akwa Ibom State Government Choir entertained the crowd with the festival theme song.
A major highlight of this year’s festival was a performance from a choir from Togo.

The parade of individual singers began with Bishop Hezekiah Walker from the United States. Aity Dennis went into her archives to dig up a song, ‘Final Thank You,’ she wrote 20 years ago. She dedicated it to the good stewardship of Mr. Udom Emmanuel as governor of Akwa Ibom, which is winding down. She did two songs before she was joined on stage by Reggae gospel musician, Bunchi Atuonwu. As Aity quietly yielded the stage to Buchi. Buchi and his songs are familiar to the audience and they responded with thunderous participation.

Nathaniel Bassey, winner of the inaugural Emmanuel Award for Excellence in Gospel Music Ministry moved the crowd to another level of spiritual awakening with his performance. He was later joined by Ronke Adesokan.

Sonnie Badu continued the worship atmosphere established by the previous singers. The only artiste who came with her own instrumentalists and singers was Sinach. Her ensemble of seven instrumentalists and four chorus singers provided some familiarity as she coursed through her performance. The audience was so galvanized that when she she asked them to hold up their lit cellphones high in the air, the dark night sky sparkled with illumination from the ‘constellation of stars’ created by thousands of lit cellphones.

Eben mounted the stage for his set with a plea. “You can’t sit down (while I’m singing). You have to dance.” Confident and aggressive, he proded the audience, even though they needed little encouragement as his songs have become an anthem. They simply took the song from him and sang with enthusiasm when he introduced, “We Go Dey Hail Your Name” and “Because of Jesus Everyday Na Shakara I Dey Do.”

Donnie McClurkin was on the bill, but it was announced that he took ill and couldn’t make it. However, his replacement, Jonathan Nelson turned out to be a thrilling surprise His Reggae influenced “I Believe” and “So Long Byebye” made his set a fitting replacement for McClurkin. With the prevailing harsh economic and social-security environment, the audience echoed the sentiments, “so long byebye, goodbye to my pains and my sorrows, so long byebye” like a prayer they need an urgent answer to.